A filtering apparatus known as a bag house is employed in a myriad of industrial applications to separate particulate matter from a gaseous stream. Perhaps most commonly, the gaseous stream is air. A typical bag house contains a partitioned filtering chamber which houses numerous filter bags in airflow communication, through corresponding openings in the partition, with a source of unfiltered air containing suspended particulate matter. Within a single bag house, a large number of filter bags may be used. The filter bags are usually constructed of an air pervious fabric material which allows the air to pass through while trapping the suspended particulate matter. Most bag houses are designed with filter bag cleaning systems which attempt to periodically or continuously remove particulate matter that accumulates on the filter bags. Various types of filter bag cleaning systems have been proposed, including those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 540,720; 2,369,649; 3,854,910; 3,871,845; and 4,343,632.
In a typical bag house design, each filter bag is normally in the form of an elongated tube disposed over an open support frame to prevent the bag from collapsing. Both the filter bag may be attached to a collar surrounding an opening in the partition and extending into the filtering chamber. Attachment of the bag to the collar may be accomplished for instance, by a band clamp or other type of ring encircling the portion of the bag engaged over the collar. The use of such band clamp devices to attach a filter bag to the partition collar possesses certain disadvantages. For instance, because the filter bag tends to bunch at the point at which the band is being tightened, an airtight seal is not achieved which may allow a portion of the unfiltered air to escape at this point of attachment. Further, removing and installing filter bags with this type of attachment device has proven to be an extremely labor intensive and time consuming process, since each clamp must be loosened to remove the filter bag and then retightened to reinstate the bag.
Removal and installation of filter bags is not restricted to the replacement of worn out bags; the filter bags must also be dismantled and removed to gain access to the interior of the bag house, for instance, to make repairs in or around the filtering chamber. Given the frequency of filter bag removal and/or replacement operations and the large number of bags used in each bag house, significant process down time can result.
As a result, there has been a long-felt need for a system of installing bags in a bag house that is simple and inexpensive, that allows the filter bags to be quickly and easily removed and installed, and that provides an efficient, airtight seal at the point of attachment. The present invention is directed to satisfying this need.